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Friday Football Foodie – Overnight French Toast Casserole and Framboise

Sometimes it takes two things to make one great performance. Sigfried and Roy. Captain and Tennille. Matt Leinart and Kurt Warner. (Although Leinart better shutty-his-uppy about splitting time with Warner, and remember that his team won with the two-QB system last week.)

Part of the beauty of this dish is all the work – what little work there is – is done the evening before brunch, leaving you to sleep in until past 9am on game day for a change. (And I bet Paula Deen would cry less than Leinart over sharing the creation of this breakfast.)

Slice the loaf of French Bread into 1-inch slices. Feel free to stab Peyton Manning if he starts cheering, “Cut that bread!” behind you.

Arrange the slices as shown in your buttered pan.

OH MY GOD! TWO YOLKS! IN ALL OF MY YEARS OF BAKING AND COOKING I HAVE NEVER HAD AN EGG HAVE TWO YOLKS!

I spent the next 15 minutes looking up folklore about multiple yolks to see if it meant anything, and finally decide that TWO yolks means the Steelers were going to win. Or I was pregnant. One of the two.

Beat together on a low setting until all the ingredients are completely incorporated together. Do not over-whip!

Pour over slices of bread.

Go back through and make sure that the bread is coated with your egg mixture on both sides.

Once are you are satisfied that the bread is properly soaking… (This is your before photo.)

…cover and let rest in the refrigerator overnight.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. (This is the after photo. See how puffy the bread is now?) Uncover and bake for 40-50 minutes.

(This is the Paula Deen way of baking. The Joy of Cooking says to remove from egg soak and bake on a baking sheet at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, turning the slices over half way through. Really, either way is fine. The JOC method is a bit less “eggy.”)

Dust with powdered sugar, add more maple syrup to taste, and serve before kickoff.

And what goes well with a football brunch? Lambic beer. Yes, it is considered a lighter, fruity beer, but the not too sweet taste and heavy weight to the drink, (it is, after all, still beer) makes it a perfect match for morning games.

Even Ape likes a glass, as we watched Steelers-Bills on one TV and Browns-Bengals on the other.

NEXT WEEK – A special guest blogger brings us the best of New Orleans cooking for the Sunday Night Game.

She came into the bar where I was slinging drinks last year and told me she’d dance at my wedding if I could make her some sweet tea. I made Paula Deeeeeeen sweet tea. There are no more life goals. I’m complete.

TSW, it sounds like you don’t like when the bread is damp and smushy with egg in the middle. I don’t like it that way either. What about baking it lower and slower for a longer period of time, then ratcheting up the heat at the end to crisp the tops and edges? That’s a lot of work too, isn’t it? Never mind.

I’ve never seen the blackberry lambic before. I’ll keep an eye out for it.

Oddly enough, it was a VERY MANLY friend of ours who introduced us to the wonder of Rasberry Lambic. Thus, I feel completely safe in my manhood for drinking it. (And, surprisingly, we’ve found Lambic at the local grocery store. It’s usually next to the wee bottles of Sutter Home Zinfandel and the uber-gay Arbor Mist section.)

And I’m surprised TSW was able to even identify page 809 in her battle-worn copy of JOY. Most of the rest of the book looks like it’s been used to tenderize meat and stir together casserole. (But GOD FORBID I should suggest getting a newer edition. That usually gets me yelled at and something greasy thrown towards my head.)

TSB – The Mayfair doesn’t carry Arbor Mist, much to my dismay. If it did, I would not have this White Zin hangover this morning.

Hehe… I almost made a joke about my copy of JOY in post, knowing that if I said 1997 StarterMom might go out and get me a new one. I LIKE MINE! All the post its, bent spine marks, and pages stuck together let me know where all the best sections are.

Lambic is delicious. The apple’s probably my favorite because it’s about as close to a good cider you can get around here. The blackberry is delicious too. You should try them mixed with Young’s Chocolate Stout. Awesomeness.

Instead of using French bread, I like to use Brioche or Challah (usually easier to find than Brioche) which are a bit lighter and sweeter. It’s good if it’s a day or two old too.

I’m surprised you’ve never seen a 2 yolk egg before. I’ve seen them several times and I rarely ever cook. My guess would be it just means twin chicks. Granted all the double yolk eggs I’ve ever seen were brown eggs so maybe that’s why.

I thought Sweet Tea was an alcoholic beverage. Shows you how cloistered I am in my lil’ West Coast World. (Also, I have never had the following: boiled peanuts, fresh donuts from a street cart, or a scotch egg– which disappointingly I have just discovered, via Wikipedia, does not contain “scotch”.)

I just finished up the night-before preparations. The bread is soaking and in the fridge and it smells WAY better than I thought it would…. I wanted to drink the batter since it smelled a lot like eggnog.

Steelersmomma – The ape is the figure of the infamous “Christmas Ape” from KissingSuzyKolber. All it is an ape doll I already had around the house with a pin stuck in him. You could probably make your own for about $10-$15. :)

Update: It’s really damn good. I went with the same preparation as TSW; sausage, fruit and a raspberry lambic.

I cooked it all directly in the pan and the bottoms turned out on the soggy side (which I like), and the tops were crunchy for a little texture contrast.

This one is definitely a keeper for when you have to make breakfast for a large crew (kids, houseguests, that orgy you brought home from the bar, etc.) . It didn’t take much preparation the night before, and it was almost no work to throw it in the oven.

I like my iced tea barely sweetened with simple syrup, and for anyone who tries to dissolve granulated sugar into a cold beverage, just pour equal amounts of sugar and water into a microwave safe dish and bring that puppy to boil for a little while. Stick it in the fridge once the boil has dissolved all the sugar and you have simple syrup. I make it at work, along with Luzianne iced tea, every week and it takes 5 minutes or so to do. One word of advice, though, stick some sort of microwave safe utensil in the bowl with the sugar and water while boiling. A chopstick or plastic knife or fork that won’t melt. It gives the boiling bubbles an escape route out of the bowl so it doesn’t all flash boil when you break the surface tension by moving the container with your hands, which would result in the need for lots of aloe vera.

As far as this recipe goes…I am intrigued. I love french toast and I love short cuts, so if I could achieve french toast bliss on a Saturday or Sunday morning without having to groggily operate the stove…well that is a good thing.

P.S. Lambic is far from being a “girly” beer, and if you have a fruit flavored lambic it may blend well with a porter or stout, IMO. I wouldn’t 50/50 it. Use the lambic more like a syrup to add a little sour sweetness to the bitterness of the stout. On a crisp autumn or winter morning, it would be particularly enjoyable at room temperature. Don’t be afraid to drink your porters and stouts unrefrigerated!